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Thursday, September 15, 2011

The most beautiful woman in the world!

The title of Miss Universe 2011 was won on Tuesday, September 12th, by Leila Lopes of Benguela, Angola, who became the first Angolan ever to win the title.

The stunning 25-year old beauty queen is a business major in London (now the luckiest city on the planet!) This modest lady believes that her smile is her best weapon.

In answer to one question that was asked of her, she said this: "Thank God I'm very satisfied with the way God created me and I wouldn't change a thing," Lopes said. "I consider myself a woman endowed with inner beauty. I have acquired many wonderful principles from my family and I intend to follow these for the rest of my life."

And one of those wonderful principles is helping those less fortunate than herself. She works with poor kids in Angola and wants to focus on the fight against HIV around the globe.

So what does any of this have to do with Cape Verde? Well, Leila was born in Angola to parents from Cape Verde! So her heritage is Cape Verdean. In fact, Angola, is a popular destination for Cape Verdean immigrants because of its proximity and because they fit right in with the Angolans who also speak Portuguese and have a similar culture based on their common blend of African and European roots.
One of the hot topics in the blogosphere centers around black women and the Miss Universe pageant. While there have been many black contestants in the pageant over the years, there have only been three previous black women who won the crown. Two of those women, Janelle "Penny" Commissiong (1977) and Wendy Fitzwilliams (1998) hail from the Caribbean island, Trinidad & Tobago. The third black title holder was Mpule Kwelagobe (1999) from Botswana and she was actually crowned by Fitzwilliams, then the previous year's winner!

With Lopes' win, she did what only these three other women had done before her in the 60-year history of the contest - in a competition filled with women with the "western look," a dark-skinned, 5 feet 10½ inch tall woman with a bright smile, winning personality and brains to match, came out on top, putting Africa squarely back on the map for beautiful and talented young women and breaking negative stereotypes of African women.

I would be willing to bet there are a millions of people around the world who are also satisfied with the way God created Leila Lopes and the inner beauty possessed by women the world over.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Please get your facts straight before publishing things... People in Angola DO NOTmspeak criolo. The offical language is portuguese and there stop the similarity. I suppose claiming a part of the success of this young lady is legitimate and natural for all CV people however you don't hear the young lady bragging about her CV roots so let's stop the whole drama aound it all. She won this title thanks as an Angolan even if her genes might be CV genes but this is all there is to the story.

I think I was pretty clear and balanced in the article. In the very first paragraph, I noted that Ms. Lopes is Angolan and I never claimed whether or not she brags about or acknowledges Cape Verdean roots.

I disagree that I have linked the success of Ms. Lopes to Cape Verde ... I only linked her PARENTS to Cape Verde which is a simple fact and an interesting connection. It is you who have made the genetic connection to CV. I have no quarrel with those who want to claim a part of the success or with those who don't. Each person is entitled to his or her own sentiments.

Be careful about your assumptions ... I am not Cape Verdean and have no Cape Verdean roots, but you imply this in your comments. I like Cape Verde as a tourist destination and I simply write about things that may be of interest to those who have an interest in visiting or living in Cape Verde.

And of course, Ms. Lopes is a beautiful young woman ... who would not be interested in her story regardless of where she is from or where the reader is from?